Welcome back to the Yuma Symposium Blog!  Our names are Teresa Burgher and Autumn Brown, and we will be the co-hosting the blog for the next six months.

We can’t believe it is only 170 days till we meet again at Lute’s Casino for the 35th Yuma Symposium?!  Time really does fly when you are having fun!

Since last February we both have stayed busy enjoying life, and from the reports we get, others have been having a pretty good time too.

Teresa joined Neely and George in late May in Charleston SC, for a terrific five days of hanging out, ogling the architecture, and checking out the extraordinary cuisine.  They enjoyed some of the opening events of the Spoleto festival and walks in the best neighborhoods of America during the evenings. Since then she has had lots of time to write, garden, and spend time in the pool with the grandkids.

Teresa and Neely in Charleston SC

Autumn finished up a fabulous spring semester teaching metalsmithing at Pitt Community College in Greenville, NC.  She then had a few weeks off to do studio work and travel with family before moving north to Interlochen, MI for her fourth season as summer metals faculty for Interlochen Center for the Arts.  She is now in Athens, GA and is looking forward to taking the fall off from teaching in order to focus on some personal work.

Autumn's metals class at ICA

Neely and George retreated from the heat to much cooler Michigan. Ken Bova has kept in touch with us all posting one stunning picture after another from Montana and an awesome album from his Santa Cruz Teaching Adventure with Angela Gleason.  Keith Lewis is in Argentina and Jane Gregorius has just returned from Canada.  John Grant is on the road from coast to coast and he has shared a photo and rave reviews from his stay with Gary Greenberg during his kiln firing in Pennsylvania.  Plus, Gary visited Autumn in Greenville, NC where he did a fantastic demo on foil firing!!

Ken's Santa Cruz Teaching Adventure

Greeny in Greenville, NC

Greenie;s livingroom by John Grant

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. People have moved, traveled, made wonderful art, had fabulous shows, taught amazing classes, and welcomed new members to their families. It has been a heck of a summer!

Now we are back to our routines, for the most part, and many of us are planning the nuts and bolts of the next, most fabulous Yuma Symposium. This year we are thrilled to feature a great lineup of presenters:  Kim Winkle, Lanny Berger, Willem Volkersz, Sara Mast, Julia Harrison, Chip Thomas, Kat Cole, Scott Kolbo, Robin Lasser, Stephen Robinson, Rocky Lewycky, and Alison Carey.

They will be joining a dozen Yuma regulars every week on this blog to share a bit of what is happening, what is up and coming, and what they hope will be when we all meet again on February 20, 2014.

Check out the blog on Sunday evenings for new posts! Next post, Teresa will share some of her prized messages from one of her favorite Yuma alumni and board members, John Grant.  Drop by right here for “On the Road, Coast to Coast"

See you in Yuma!

Teresa Burgher
Christiana, TN

Autumn Brown
Greenville, NC